


and all that time (you were right there beside me)

by the9muses



Series: Fluff Bingo 2020 [4]
Category: Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D. (TV)
Genre: Agents of fluff, Alternate Universe - Childhood Friends, Bobbi has a thing for tapping on things, But He's Adopted, Coffee Shops, F/F, F/M, Fluff, Friends to Lovers, Friendship, Holding Hands, HuntingBird, I'd say slow burn, It's sweet, No one wants to read coming of age stories about straight white boys, Nobody likes Grant Ward, Siblings Lance Hunter & Jemma Simmons, Slow Burn, and Deke!, and also Fitz, and very very brief angst in the middle, because they're so fucking boring, but it's mostly fluff, but teachers love assigning them, i guess?, right? Right?, which is really just me projecting myself onto her
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-11-14
Updated: 2020-11-14
Packaged: 2021-03-09 23:41:57
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 3,468
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/27534691
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/the9muses/pseuds/the9muses
Summary: Bobbi and Hunter meet on the first day of kindergarten.The next 25 years are a dance of desire, discomfort, and unreliable feelings.
Relationships: Alphonso "Mack" Mackenzie/Yo Yo Rodriguez, Jemma Simmons/Skye | Daisy Johnson, Lance Hunter/Bobbi Morse, Minor or Background Relationship(s), Very brief Phil Coulson/Melinda May
Series: Fluff Bingo 2020 [4]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/1995853
Comments: 19
Kudos: 18
Collections: Agents of Fluff 2020





	and all that time (you were right there beside me)

**Author's Note:**

> For Fluff Bingo prompt Huntingbird + Childhood friends (to lovers)
> 
> Sorry this got a little out of hand. There's also like three lines of angst so whoops 😬  
> I took so long on the title (I actually listened to the entirety of Hadestown to find something but even tho it's my fav it was probably not the best for this fic 😂 )  
> Hope you enjoy!

Bobbi and Hunter meet on the first day of kindergarten. 

They’ve both somehow managed to land themselves at the time-out table within the first hour, Hunter for refusing to shut up and Bobbi for refusing to answer to the name Barbara. They sit in a tentative silence for the first half-hour until Hunter turns to Bobbi and asks,

“Who’re you?” 

She gives him a judgemental look, a look she’s spent hours perfecting.

“You talk weird.”

“I’m British!” he says proudly. Bobbi frowns.

“Oh. Do all British people talk funny?”

“You’re the one talking funny,” he fires back. They proceed to bicker about which one of them is talking funny until Ms. Foster comes over and tells them to knock it off, or she’ll call their parents. They both stop talking, embarrassed, and go back to the work that they're supposed to be doing. They spend the next few weeks alternating between arguing and having the most fun possible for two five-year-olds stuck in school. 

Bobbi thinks Hunter is kind of annoying but also a lot of fun to play with.

Hunter thinks Bobbi is pretty and smart. She can read! And she kind reminds him of his older sister. Izzy would like to meet Bobbi, he decides, if she was alive.

But he doesn’t tell her any of that, because her judgemental look is pretty scary.

They live in a small town, and so the next year they’re in the same class again for first grade. They’re sitting across the classroom from each other, though, so they have to resort to sticking their tongues out in the direction of the other from across the divide./p>

Bobbi is stuck next to a boy named Grant Ward, who she hates immediately, and with a burning passion. He insists on calling her Barbara, and he always acts like he’s smarter than her. 

As annoying as he can be, she’d much rather be sitting next to Hunter. 

Their teacher, Mr. Sitwell, is constantly telling them off for communicating across the classroom, using a system they invented during recess. (It mostly involves writing things on a piece of paper and holding it up for the other to see. Neither of them understands the concept of having secrets. Or the concept of other people having the ability to read.)

In second grade, they’re separated. Bobbi makes a new friend, though, a boy named Mack who’s taller than any of the other kids. Hunter takes to him quickly, and soon they’re a trio, scheming underneath the play structure at recess when no one is listening. They’ve begun to understand what secrets are, and it’s a little intoxicating, to know things that others don’t. Of course, all the secrets they have are harmless, little things that barely even qualify as secrets.

When they’re not whispering to each other under the playset, they’re running wild, chasing each other around, and laughing like madmen, and being _kids._ Bobbi’s dad builds them a treehouse, up in the tallest tree in Bobbi’s yard, and it becomes their headquarters. They nickname it the Triskelion because it sounds cool, the kind of place filled with high-tech equipment and people with big secrets. 

Sometimes, Hunter’s little siblings join in. Deke is too young to play, but Leo and Jemma are only a year younger, and they’re fun. Bobbi and Jemma both enjoy flipping over rocks to see what bugs are there. (and then chasing the boys with whatever they find.) 

Hunter still thinks Bobbi is smart and pretty. But she’s learned about glaring, so he decides to play it safe. 

They’re together again, in third grade, and unified against their teacher, Mr. Garrett. 

“He’s mean, and he only likes Grant Ward,” Bobbi complains to Hunter and Mack, up in their treehouse, “ _and_ the other day, he told me I shouldn’t act like such a know-it-all, because I don’t know everything!” 

“But you do act like you know everything,” Hunter says innocently. 

Mack totally isn’t laughing as Bobbi glares at Hunter, a glare so terrifying it could scare a bear away. 

“Lance Hunter, I will not hesitate to throw a book at you,” she threatens, gesturing to the book lying in her lap. 

“Oh come on, love, no need to—” 

“Just because you’re British or whatever doesn’t mean you can call me love.” 

Hunter makes an indignant noise “British or whatever? I’ll ha—” 

“Oh, shut up,” Mack and Bobbi chorus. Hunter glares at both of them. His glare is not nearly as terrifying as Bobbi’s. 

“I’ll tell your mum you said shut up,” he tells them.

“My mom said I could say it if I needed to. And I needed to. So I thought it was justified,” Bobbi says, pronouncing justified wrong. Mack and Hunter both look at her, confused. 

“Joostifeed?” Mack asks. Bobbi sighs loftily.

“Why do I have to be the smart one?”

“No one ever asked you to be, Bob! You can step down from your position with grace and let someone else take it!” Hunter suggests.

Bobbi just sighs again.

In 4th grade, they make more friends. Daisy and Elena slide effortlessly into their friend group, especially after Elena throws a Yo Yo at Grant Ward because he was annoying her. She gets sent home from school for three days, the nickname Yo Yo, and Bobbi’s permanent respect. Daisy is fun too, and pretty. Grant Ward stares at her a lot. It’s a frequent topic of conversation, and the best theory they’ve had yet is that he’s a government spy sent to get all of Daisy’s information. 

This theory leads to a game of spies and bad guys, one of their favorite games. Bobbi’s especially good at it and Hunter is always amazed. He can’t exactly put a finger on the way he feels about Bobbi. All he knows is that he likes being around her.

As good as Bobbi may be at games of spies, she’s truly awful at noticing the way Hunter looks at her.

In fifth grade, a boy in their class dies. Trip. None of them knew him very well, but they still attend his funeral. Their whole class does. 

It’s awful.

Trip was _their age_ . Only 11, just like them. And he’s _dead._

When Hunter sees Trip’s parents, his dad sobbing, his mum holding onto him, eyes red, he grips onto Bobbi’s hand. It’s too much like his sister’s funeral. He hasn’t thought about Izzy in a long time. He was only five when she died, he barely remembers her.

Bobbi doesn’t say anything, just looks straight ahead and squeezes his hand. Once, twice.

It’s the first time she's lost something _real_ , something tangible. Someone. 

It isn’t the last time, not for her and not for Hunter.

Sixth grade is better. In sixth grade, they have Mr. Fury for science. Mr. Fury is the best teacher they’ve ever had. The first thing he does is tell them to call him Fury, nothing else. And then he tells them about how they’re going to blow things up in this class.

He teaches them all sorts of things, not just science. Interesting things, useful things, things that Mr. Garrett would never have taught them. They blow up a lot of stuff that year.

In seventh grade, kids in their class start to pair off, saying, _oh, this is my boyfriend,_ or, _yeah, she’s my girlfriend._

Bobbi is always grumbling about it, about how they’re only twelve, that it’s completely ridiculous. Her friends are not the same.

Hunter has a new “girlfriend” each week. And Bobbi can see the way Mack looks at Yo Yo. And the way Jemma looks at Daisy, for that matter. No one looks at her like that.

Not that she wants anyone to look at her like that. High school relationships rarely last, much less _middle school_ relationships. It would be pointless to risk your emotions on something like that. 

Whenever she says that out loud, Mack and Hunter look at each other. 

“What? I can’t even legally be on social media yet, I’m not going to _date_ anyone. Besides, a seventh graders concept of dating is holding hands once in the hallways.” 

“You’ll be thirteen in a week,” Hunter tells her. Bobbi just rolls her eyes.

Mack just looks between the two of them and tries to understand how neither of them has figured it out yet.

In eighth grade, Mack and Yo Yo start dating. It is a surprise to absolutely no one. 

“About time!” Daisy exclaims when they tell everyone.

“Yeah, there was some cheesy rom-com level pining going on there,” Bobbi laughs.

Mack and Yo Yo roll their eyes in perfect sync.

“What happens if you break up?” Jemma asks. They all fall into silence, for a moment.

“We’ll stay friends,” Mack decides. They all nod in agreement. None of them are certain it’s a realistic promise, but it’s good enough.

In ninth grade, Bobbi’s parents get divorced. 

She conveniently forgets to mention it for a few months. It’s not her fault. She doesn’t want to talk about it, and she definitely doesn’t want her friends to pity her.

But then her mom moves to California, and it’s impossible to hide anymore. 

Hunter doesn’t talk to her for the rest of the school year.

Mack tries to cheer her up, but it’s hard. Especially when Jemma and Daisy start dating and Fitz starts dating this girl called Ophelia and suddenly there doesn’t seem to be room for Bobbi anymore.

For the first time in her life, Bobbi is lonely.

Hunter is too, but he’s not about to admit it. Bobbi _lied to him_. They don’t lie to each other. They lie to other people, together. He can’t forgive that.

Bobbi understands why he won’t talk to her, but she wishes he was a little more like their other friends. They understand _why_ she lied.

Ninth grade is Bobbi’s best approximation of hell.

In tenth grade, Bobbi remembers how to smile and Hunter decides to forgive her and everything is better again. 

Of course, there are awkward moments when all their friends are making out and they’re left to awkwardly look away from each other and very pointedly not look at their friends.

One day it happens again, and Bobbi groans and tips her head against the wall, blonde hair falling back, and an annoyed look flashing across her face, and Hunter realizes with a sudden clarity just how much he’d like to kiss her. But she’s sighing and rolling her eyes and tapping her fingers against her knee and now probably isn’t the best time. 

Especially since she recently taking taekwondo from Melinda May, the most terrifying woman Hunter has ever met. 

It doesn’t help that she’s still a full inch taller than him. (Someday he’ll be taller than her. Someday.)

“I am so fucking tired of reading coming of age stories about straight white boys!” Bobbi bursts out, throwing her book across the room. Hunter just barely dodges it. 

“Oi! What was that for?” he exclaims, picking up the book and rifling through it. So far, all Bobbi’s 11th grade ELA teacher has assigned is books in a similar category, and he has to admit they do seem quite a bit boring.

“Well, it’s your fault books like these exist,” she says.

“I have not written a single book. I’ve got no clue what you’re talking about.” 

“You are a straight white boy. You exist, and so people write books about you. I dare you to poke holes in my flawless logic.” He laughs, and then Mack clears his throat. 

“Yo Yo and I have to go. See you guys later?” 

“Bye!” Bobbi says, as she grabs her laptop and opens it. 

“I have to go too,” Daisy says suddenly, and jumps up, following Mack and Yo Yo.

“And us!” Jemma adds.

“This is your house,” Bobbi tells her. Jemma just shrugs.

“I’ve got things to do. Fitz too.”

“Ooookay,” Bobbi draws out, and then shrugs and goes back to her work

After their friends leave, Bobbi and Hunter sit in silence, working on their homework.

“Oh right!” Bobbi blurts, looking rather shocked “Prom exists!” 

“It does?” Hunter asks sarcastically.

“Yeah, it does. I just forgot.”

“Do you have a date? Wait, of course you don’t. You forgot it existed!” 

They’re skating on thin ice. They both know it. And they make eye contact across the room and they both know it’s all over.

“Want to go with me?” he asks tentatively. Bobbi bites her lip.

“Ok.” Her phone dings, out of the blue. She reads the text and then looks up, looking a bit guilty. “Sorry, Hunter, I have to go. My dad wants to talk.” He waves goodbye, feeling ecstatic (and slightly terrified. But mostly ecstatic)

3 hours later, he gets a call from Bobbi, telling him to come over _right now_ , because it’s an emergency. When he gets to her house, all their friends are there.

Bobbi’s eyes are red, and she looks furious. Wordlessly, she leads them up to the treehouse that they used to play in all the time. They haven’t been up there in years.

“I’m moving across the country.” 

They all stare at her in surprise.

Hunter is the first to speak. “Hold on, what?” Bobbi angrily swipes her hand underneath her nose.

“Apparently, my dad just got a job and he needs to move around a lot, so I need to go live with my mom. In _California._ Oh, and I forgot to mention. I’m leaving _the day after tomorrow.”_

There’s a chorus of surprised exclamations and quite a few expletives.

They brainstorm for hours, but in the end, they realize that in less than two days, they’re saying goodbye to Bobbi, whether they like it or not. 

When they do finally have to say goodbye, they promise to keep in touch.

A year later, the only texts they’re sending are birthday wishes and congratulations on graduation.

Two years later, there are no more texts.

...

  
  


“Yeah, just...coffee,” Bobbi says to the harried barista, fingers tapping lightly on the counter out of habit. 

“Medium, large, small…”

“Medium.”

“Okay! That’ll be ready in a few minutes. And your name?”

“Bobbi. B-O-B-B-I.” The barista nods and smiles at her, before gesturing over to the chairs and telling her she can go sit down if she likes. Bobbi thanks her, and then plunks down into a chair, scrolling mindlessly through tumblr for a few minutes. The barista calls her name, and she goes up to grab her coffee. On her way out, she collides with someone. Looking up with the intent to apologize, her mouth drops open. 

“Holy shit. Hunter?” she asks, disbelief evident in her voice. “What are you doing here?”

“Getting coffee,” he responds, gesturing around them to what is very clearly a coffee shop and holding up the cup of coffee in his hand. “It’s nice to see you too, Bob.” 

“No, I mean here. Like this town.”

“I did grow up here…” 

“Yeah, I know. It’s just… you always seemed to me like the kind of person who gets out of the town where they grow up as fast as they can.” 

Hunter laughs. “Well, you’ve got me there. Left for England a few months after graduation. I’m just here to visit Deke.” It’s then Bobbi notices that his accent is much stronger than it used to be after he’d spent almost a decade in America. “What did you do?”

“I...did the same thing,” Bobbi admits. “Well, not the England part. But I was ecstatic to leave California. Got out as soon as I could.”

“You go to college?”

“Yeah, Harvard. I have a Ph.D. in biology now.” 

Hunter nodded, impressed. “Jemma’s got a Ph.D. in biology too, actually. Plus one in biochemistry, one in physics, and one in mechanical engineering.” 

“...wow. Last I checked, it's only been a decade, not four. And everyone else?” 

“We should sit down,” Hunter suggests.

“Is it that bad?”

“No, it’s just a long conversation. Got any plans?” 

Bobbi checks her watch.

“I don’t know why I just did that. No, I don’t have any plans.” Hunter smiles at her, and she realizes then how much she’s missed his smile. It’s been more than ten years since she’s seen that smile. 

The two of them find a table and sit down across from each other.

“So, you said you were visiting Deke? He’s still living here?” 

“Yeah. My parents moved back to England, and he got the house. Said he didn’t want to waste a perfectly good free house, so he lives here. Leo’s in Scotland now, doing some research on...actually I’m not sure. I think it has something to do with monkeys. And then Jemma’s off in New York doing whatever it is she does on a daily basis. Oh! And she and Daisy are engaged now!” Bobbi’s mouth dropped open.

“When’s their wedding?” 

Hunter pauses. “Well. I’ve got no idea. I think it’s sometime next year? They haven’t sent out invites yet.”

“You know surprisingly little about your siblings' lives,” Bobbi observes.

“I know plenty! I just don’t remember much about what they _do_. Anyways, Mack and Yo Yo live in Connecticut now. They broke up in college, though they’re back together now. I think Mack runs a charity organization, but I don’t remember the details. Grant Ward is in prison for a felony, and his girlfriend—remember Kara?—she just kind of dropped off the map after graduation.

And remember May?” Bobbi smiles, remembering May.

“Yeah, I do. She was great.”

“She was bloody terrifying!” 

Bobbi snorts.

“Don’t laugh! You know it’s true! But anyway, she and Daisy’s dad are married now.”

“WHAT?” 

“I know, right!” 

Bobbi stares at Hunter in shock, processing.

“I want to hear that story.” 

“I don’t know the details. You’d have to ask Daisy.”

“I will do that. What about you?” 

“Nothing interesting,” Hunter says with a shrug. Bobbi raises an eyebrow.

“I don’t believe that.”

“Well, I served in the SAS for five years. Is that interesting?” 

Bobbi nearly spits out her coffee. “The SAS? Hunter, the SAS is one of the most—”

“Yeah, I remember that presentation you did in middle school.”

“Seriously! The SAS is far from nothing interesting, _Amadeus Ravenclaw Hunter_.” 

Hunter gives her a mock glare.

“I told you that name in confidence, _Barbara._ ” 

Bobbi cringes slightly at the use of her name. “Fine, fine, fine, _Hunter_. Please never call me Barbara again.”

The two go back to laughing and talking, and it’s almost like no time has passed at all. 

“So, are you single?” Hunter asks suddenly. Bobbi smirks.

“Wouldn’t you like to know? Okay, that came out wrong. But yeah, I’m single. Broke up with my boyfriend a few months ago.”

“Is that why you’re here?”

“No, I got a job consulting with the FBI.” 

It’s Hunter’s turn to almost spit out his coffee.

“The FBI? Bob, that’s something you tell a person when they ask what you’ve been doing!” 

“I guess. How’s your mom?” 

“She’s fine. Constantly badgering me about settling down and all that, but fine.” 

Bobbi laughs. “Your mom too? Ever since I broke up with Clint, my mom has been hounding me to do something about my relationship status.” 

The two of them sit in silence, commiserating with each other. 

“Y’know, I always had a crush on you, back in middle school. And high school. And elementary,” Hunter admits.

“Well, that was impeccably timed. A+ on timing.” Hunter looks at Bobbi in confusion, and then his eyes widened.

“Oh. OH. I see. Yeah. Now I see it.” 

“I have to admit, though, I liked you too. We probably should have done something about that.”

“We were going to go to prom, remember?”

“Oh yeah!”

“This is ten years too late, but how about a date?” Hunter suggests.

“That rhymed.”

“Damn.”

“And sure. That would be nice,” Bobbi decides, trying not to think about the fact that the success of this date will likely depend on how much each of them has changed in the past decade. 

She’s been waiting for this for a decade. She doesn’t want it to go wrong. She doesn’t want to regret it. 

But she doesn’t regret it. Their date goes well. Perfectly, actually. And the date after that, and the one after that. She doesn’t regret it as she falls, slowly at first but then at rocket speeds, falling far and fast. She doesn't regret it when they move in together, when they have an apartment to call their own.

She especially doesn’t regret it when Hunter is down on one knee and the only words in her head are _yes. Absolutely._

Years later, looking back to that day, she doesn’t regret a thing. 

  
  


**Author's Note:**

> I have legit been sitting on my couch in the same place for the last five hours finishing this. It is my baby.  
> Please comment and leave kudos! (if you feel like it 🙂 )


End file.
